The New Boy
by Xazz
Summary: He'd only spoken to Malik maybe three minutes and he had a crush. Why did this happen to him! -oneshot-


Altair glanced across the classroom at the boy at the end of the line of desks. He was new and didn't speak any English. He looked perpetually grumpy and though he'd been to school a week and didn't seem to have any friends. Not easy when you were an ESOL kid and most of the ESOL kids were Spanish. Not exactly a lot of room or need for Arabic in the Keys. Why would you? It was practically Cuban as it was, even people who weren't Cuban knew some Spanish, even the obnoxious white kids.

He looked back at the board to finish copying the homework, telling himself he _would _talk to the new kid. It wasn't his fault after all. Right? He didn't know English and well, Altair knew some Arabic. Not as much as his geido would like for sure but he could have a semi cohesive conversation at least.

The bell rang. Altair shoved everything into his back pack and booked it out of glass and into the pod. The new kid- fuck what was his name again? Altair couldn't remember- was already out there. "Hey," he called, stopping him with a touch to the arm. They turned around, confused, dark eyes focusing on Altair mutely. Up close he had really long eyelashes and for a second Altair forgot what he was going to say. "Ah- _Hi, I'm Altair_," he finally remembered how to speak.

They blinked and while they didn't speak he could see their amusement in their eyes. "_Finally, someone here who speaks sense_," they said.

Altair smiled brightly, okay, good, he hadn't totally tripped over his own tongue like usual. He was pretty backwards as far as social interactions went and could count his friends on less than one hand. Unlike his best friend who didn't have enough digits for all of them. "_I'm sort of rusty, so sorry if I suck_," he said.

"_You just have a really ridiculous accent,_" they said.

"_Oh… well… erm_," they laughed at him. "_I'm sorry, what's your name?"_

"_Malik,_" he said, smiling. He had a really nice smile. Altair bet he was straight though. They were _always_ straight. Oh well. But a new friend would be nice, especially since Ezio and Desmond were always busy and Connor stayed at home even more than he did. "_I uh- need to get to class_," he added since _shit_ Altair had been staring.

"_Right. Sorry… wannahavelunchwithme?"_ it sort of all came out in an awkward rush. God what _was_ he doing?

Thankfully Malik didn't hate him and just sort of grinned at him, "_Sure_," he said. "_I'll see at lunch, Altair," _ and wow Altair hadn't heard someone say his name properly in a long time other than his geido. There was a certain way you rolled the word in your mouth that English or Spanish speakers couldn't ever get right. But Malik could. Fuck. He'd only spoken to Malik maybe three minutes and he had a crush. Why did this _happen to him_?! Thankfully Malik was walking away so he didn't see Altair staring after him. Altair's mouth went thin and then he fled to his next class.

* * *

After that first lunch Malik sort of became a staple at Altair's lunch table with Connor, Desmond and Desmond's fucking annoying gang of friends. Connor's only other friend their age was home schooled on the reservation but Desmond had five of them that moved around him like electrons to a nucleus. Ezio had his own table because he practically had a fan club like in those japanese animus Desmond liked to watch.

Malik was nice to have around. He was smart and rather quiet, like Altair, but unlike Altair wasn't totally socially inept, especially around the social butterflies that were two of his friends. i.e Desmond and Ezio. Malik liked to talk and was really smart, he and Lucy usually went at it about science during lunch while everyone just rolled their eyes. Not that it was a surprise, Shaun was a history guy, Rebecca a tech geek, Altair math, Desmond and Daniel hated school, Clay was a gossip mill and Connor just silently judged all of them about everything. When the two got heated about things was funny though because they ended up nearly yelling at each other at their table outside the library.

That was once Malik had a better grasp on English at least. That took a few weeks since he knew some, but not a lot and sometimes when he argued with Lucy he'd just start talking in Arabic. Everyone would look at first Malik and then at Altair since he was Malik's unofficial translator and clearly Malik didn't know how to put into words what he'd just said in English. That was always awkward since Altair wasn't passionate like Malik. But, he got Malik's point across, with a lot of nudging and reminding on Malik's part.

They hung out after school too. Altair played soccer and Malik stayed after on the bleachers, doing homework. He wasn't sure _why_ Malik stayed around, but he did. Altair appreciated it though he did end up tripping over his own feet more often. Coach berated him for it, telling him to get his head in to practice, but he always heard Malik laugh from the bleachers when he did that. It was rude a fuck, but also kinda… nice? He liked making Malik laugh, even at his own expense.

God did that happen a lot. Malik laughing at Altair's expense. When he tripped or said something dumb or that time he'd walked into one of the hallway support beams. He also _always_ laughed at Altair's jokes. Altair hated him. He hated Malik because Malik was perfect. Perfect and straight and so totally out of his league it was painful. He half expected him to ask Lucy out any day because they clicked like it was going out of style. He hated that. Though it _was_ amusing to see both Desmond and Daniel fume over the fact that clearly Lucy thought Malik was worth more of her time than either of them. That was the only good part about Malik spending time with Lucy, who other than Altair he spent the most time with, and by association also Rebecca since the girls were basically attached at the hip

* * *

Altair was getting out of soccer practice. He looked towards the bleachers. Malik was there, as usual. He frowned when he saw Lucy there too. They were sitting close together, heads almost touching, seeming to be talking about something seriously. Altair frowned. Lucy usually didn't come to practice. In fact she _never_ came to watch practice. What the hell was she doing here? Distracting Malik clearly since he didn't wave as Altair left the field to head for the showers.

As usual he showered and changed, telling off his teammates when they asked if Altair was ogling them. He knew they were just teasing. Altair had clearly reminded all of them that just because he was out didn't mean he suddenly found them attractive and in the same breath had asked why he'd be attracted to skinny white boys anyway, since most of the soccer team was skinny white boys, save for the few Cubans. Altair wasn't into Cubans either though. Even if they did have four packs…

Malik was waiting for him outside the gym on the parking-lot side. Malik didn't have a car. He usually took the late bus home after saying goodbye out on the field. Lucy was nowhere in sight.

"Hey," Altair said as he trotted down the steps from the gym.

"Hey," Malik said, somewhat awkwardly.

"Where's Lucy?" he asked.

"Ah- she left. She said she was done with me?" Altair snorted, yeah, that sounded like Lucy. Clearly Malik didn't get the slang though. Not very well at least. Sometimes Altair forgot Malik had only lived here for a few months and even though his English was thick and accented he spoke very well and had learned quickly. American sarcasm was still largely lost on him.

"Yeah sounds like," Altair said. "So, what's up?"

"Uh- _well, I sort of… had a question._"

"Sure, shoot," Altair said. Malik rubbed his mouth, made a face and then sighed. "What?" Altair asked.

"_I'm just… being ridiculous,_" Malik admitted. _"Lucy said she wouldn't talk to me again until I asked you though."_

"Asked me what?" Altair eyed him, what the _hell_ was going on.

"_Ah… well…"_

"Malik, it's cool, you can ask me," Altair assured him.

Malik made a face and then suddenly kissed him on the cheek. "_Will you go out with me?_" Malik asked, wide-eyed, looking sure Altair would say no. Altair's mouth just hung open. He _had not _been expecting that! _"Fuck_,"Malik groaned. "_Just… forget I said anything I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable,_" and he turned to leave.

Altair grabbed his arm before he knew what he was doing. "_Yes_," Altair said, smiling. Malik blinked at him. "_Yes I will totally go out with you_."

"_You will?_"

"_Yes,_" he said again and then shyly kissed Malik on the lips. He'd never actually…kissed a boy. He'd dated one girl, found he didn't like it and that was that. Not that he hadn't kissed, he could do that. But Malik was his first gay kiss.

Malik kissed him back cheerfully, a sort of secret smile in the corners of his mouth. It was brief but nice, just the press of lips to each other. _"That was a lot less painless than I thought_," Malik said.

_"Why would it be painful?"_

_"I thought you had a crush on Desmond_," he admitted.

Altair made a face, "_No. Fuck _god_ no_," and Malik laughed. _"He's like my brother. That is disgusting_."

"_Lucy said that too!"_

_"She did?"_

_"Yes. She came today because she told me I had to ask you out."_

_"Or what?"_

_"I don't know. But I didn't want to find out. It _is_ Lucy and Rebecca."_

_"Mmm, good point_," Altair nodded. "_Want to come over?_" Malik nodded now. Altair grinned. "_I'll ask my grandpa if you can stay for dinner."_

_"That'd be nice."_

_"C'mon,_" and after hesitating for a second grabbed Malik's hand and they walked to the parking-lot. Malik kissed him on the cheek again when they got into the car. He was going to like this.

-fin-


End file.
